Vegan Organic Network

Events

Unraveling the Farming Protest: Misdirection, Misinformation, and Political Opportunism

Last week, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took an unprecedented step by joining a protest against the Welsh government’s environmental policies, which were criticised by farmers. The protest, led by farmers who obstructed a road in Llandudno with tractors, targeted policies similar to those introduced by Rishi Sunak’s government in England, albeit with better offers for farmers in Wales.

Ironically, Sunak’s government has enforced stringent anti-protest laws against certain groups but showed support for the farmers’ protest. The demonstration was organised by “No Farmers, No Food,” led by James Melville, a controversial figure known for promoting conspiracy theories and opposing climate measures. Despite genuine grievances among UK farmers regarding profit distribution and trade deals, the focus of the protests was misdirected towards false narratives about Welsh government initiatives.

In reality, the Welsh government’s consultation paper aligns with many farmers’ demands and aims to transition farming towards more sustainable practices. However, misinformation and political opportunism, including Sunak’s involvement, have clouded the issue. The proposed changes, although not perfect, address the need for environmental sustainability in farming, which is critical amid the climate emergency. Yet, the current protests seem driven more by misplaced anger than genuine concerns, ultimately benefiting only those exploiting the situation for their own agendas.

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time 28th February 2024

Ever wanted to know how to grow organically using only plant-based fertilisers? Our monthly show is here to help!

Giles Bryant from the World Healing Project will host an entertaining evening with some twenty-four carrot advice from Keith Robertson from Scottish School of Herbal Medicine and Jamie Jones Veganic Date Farmer from California.

Send your questions to: events@veganorganic.net

Wednesday 28th February 2024

7pm-7.45pm UK Time

Watch Free On YouTube

The panel:

Show host, Giles Bryant – World Healing Project, Founder:Giles has been a keen gardener for 30 years. He has planted community orchards, forest gardens and medicinal herb areas at a variety of projects. He runs the World Healing Project, promoting wellbeing for people and the planet, and has just released an 8-year project, One World, which features musicians and singers from around the world. http://www.gilesbryant.com

Keith Robertson: Founder of the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine at Drimlabarra Herb Farm on the Isle of Arran. Established in 2000, the farm is run on Veganic/Stockfree lines combining vegan (100% vegetarian) and organic philosophy.

We are in effect, a Vegan sanctuary and retreat centre, dedicated to researching planetary health via herbal treatments, diet, cooking and raw food and practical hands-on green living. Our interest lies in community building and cooperation. People can participate through interactive learning including attendance at workshops, individual consultations, apprenticeships and open day visits.

Scottish School of Herbal Medicine Courses: visit www.veganherbal.com  for details.

Mathew Appleby: Author and three time winner of the Garden Media Guild best journalist award, his latest book is The Super Organic Gardener – Everything You Need to Know About a Vegan Garden

Jamie Jones, Date Farmer California: In 1998 Jamie bought a 22 acre farm in the southern California. The land is adjacent to a canal which provides lots of clean water from the Rocky Mountains via the Colorado river.

They have 5 acres of date palms and the entire property is a wildlife refuge.

Here is a short video of Jamie in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIVDGcW6V2E

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time hopes to inspire and bring new ideas to foragers, growers and gardeners alike.

Now more than ever it is vital that we engage with how our food is grown. Tune into our show and become part of the growing revolution which can not only transform your garden plot but also change the way the world grows its food.

A Vegan Organic Network production.

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time 25th January 2024

Vegan Gardeners Question Time 25 Jan 2024

Ever wanted to know how to grow organically using only plant-based fertilisers? Our monthly show is here to help!

Megan Kelly from Learn Veganic will host an entertaining evening with some twenty-four carrot advice from Veg Grower Piers Warren and Horticulture teacher Than.

Send your questions to: events@veganorganic.net

Thursday 25th January 2024

7pm-7.45pm UK Time

Click here to watch free live on YouTube

The panel:

Show host:

Meghan Kelly: Learned veganic permaculture to become more self-sufficient while sticking to her vegan values. She has practiced veganics for over 10 years in community gardens, concrete jungles and up in the hills. She runs the Learn Veganic online course and co-founded the Veganic Agriculture Network . Our website: https://learnveganic.com/ Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LearnVeganic

Piers Warren: Conservationist, author and keen grower of organic fruit and vegetables. He is the founder of Wildeye – The International School of Wildlife Film-making. Writer of several books and co-author of The Vegan Cook and Gardener.
More about Piers https://wildeye.co.uk/piers-warren/The Vegan Cook & Gardener https://veganorganic.net/product/vegan-cook-and-gardener/

Than Gunabalasingham: Than is a veganic horticultural tutor, forest gardener, forager and all round plant enthusiast. Having worked for some years in sustainable food policy research, he has turned to the land, creating and teaching about resilient food systems. Most of all he is passionate about indigenous earth wisdom, restoring wild spaces and creating edible landscapes that nourish all beings. He currently tutors with OrganicLea and The Orchard Project, and has recently co-founded Nourish the Wild with the intention of rekindling the spiritual dimension of working with plants, growing food and healing our relationship to the land.

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time hopes to inspire and bring new ideas to foragers, growers and gardeners alike.

Now more than ever it is vital that we engage with how our food is grown.

Tune into our show and become part of the growing revolution which can not only transform your garden plot but also change the way the world grows its food.

A Vegan Organic Network production.

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time 29th Nov

Ever wanted to know how to grow organically using only plant-based fertilisers? Our monthly show is here to help!

Giles Bryant from the World Healing Project will host an entertaining evening with some twenty-four carrot advice from Garden Organic’s head gardener Anton Rosenfeld and Maureen Robertson from the Herbal Path.

Send your questions to: events@veganorganic.net

Wednesday 29th November 2023

7pm-7.45pm UK Time

Watch Free On YouTube

The panel:

Show host, Giles Bryant – World Healing Project, Founder.

Giles has been a keen gardener for 30 years. He has planted community orchards, forest gardens and medicinal herb areas at a variety of projects. He runs the World Healing Project, promoting wellbeing for people and the planet, and has just released an 8-year project, One World, which features musicians and singers from around the world. http://www.gilesbryant.com

Anton Rosenfeld Research Officer at Garden Organic:

Anton Rosenfeld has been with Garden Organic for 18 years. His work has ranged from projects with commercial field-scale growers to small-scale community gardens and allotments.  He has worked as a grower, runs many training courses and regularly writes for Grow Your Own and Kitchen Garden magazine.  He has a passion for soils, composting and growing veg from a wide range of cultures and horizons. He is a keen advocate of a vegan diet and veganic gardening and has been vegan for over 30 years. 

Maureen Robertson Medical Herbalist:

Maureen has over 25 years of experience working with herbs and sharing the Green knowledge. She co-founded the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine in 1992.  She encountered Goethe’s way of studying “the Holy Open Book of Nature” as shared by Rudolf Steiner and discovered an approach of wholeness to studying plants, landscape and natural phenomena. She developed a clinical application of Goethe’s method which shaped her herbal practice and the way she supports the healing process for the people she works with. In 2012 she established the Herbal Apprenticeship at Drimlabarra Herb Farm, Isle of Arran, Scotland which she ran for 4 years before relocating to Portugal. Her travels in Peru and Ecuador meeting shamans and teacher plants helped create a deepening into the interior world of self-healing and the shamanic practices which aid these processes are now an integral part of her approach to purification and rejuvenation. For courses and information visit The Herbal Path.

Stephane Groleau
After studying organic agriculture in college, Stéphane co-founded the Veganic Agriculture Network in 2008. He has been gardening veganically for 20 years, both in-ground and on balconies. He co-teaches the Learn Veganic gardening course, and he co-organized the 2023 Veganic Summit. Stephane is passionate about approaches to food and farming that respect the planet, people and animals. https://goveganic.net/ 

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time hopes to inspire and bring new ideas to foragers, growers and gardeners alike.

Now more than ever it is vital that we engage with how our food is grown.

Tune into our show and become part of the growing revolution which can not only transform your garden plot but also change the way the world grows its food.

A Vegan Organic Network production.

Veganic Gardeners Question Time 25th October 2023

Ever wanted to know how to grow organically using only plant-based fertilisers? Our monthly show is here to help!

Megan Kelly from Learn Veganic will host an entertaining evening with some twenty-four carrot advice from Jo Kidd of Tree of Life Veganics and permaculture teacher Aranya.

Send your questions to: events@veganorganic.net

Wednesday 25th October 2023

7pm-7.45pm UK Time

Click here to watch free live on YouTube

The panel:

Show host:

Meghan Kelly: Learned veganic permaculture to become more self-sufficient while sticking to her vegan values. She has practiced veganics for over 10 years in community gardens, concrete jungles and up in the hills. She runs the Learn Veganic online course and co-founded the Veganic Agriculture Network . Our website: https://learnveganic.com/ Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LearnVeganic

Aranya: is one of Britain’s leading permaculture teachers, having taught nearly 100 two-week permaculture design courses (PDCs) since 2005. He’s author of the popular ‘Permaculture Design – a Step-by-Step Guide’, translated into 5  languages, and launched an online course last summer based on the design process described in the book. He’s currently finishing a second book, about the application of systems thinking and patterns in permaculture design, due to be published in 2022. He’s been gardening for 35 years, loves growing food and is especially interesting in low-input systems like forest gardening and no-dig.

Aranya’s website: https://www.learnpermaculture.com

Jo Kidd:

Jo Kidd and her family run a small veganic, forest farm near Faversham in Kent.
They started farming in 2018 having been vegan since 2003 and, building on previous projects, are following their passion to live as ethically and compassionately and as close to the earth as possible.
They use a no plough approach and will be completely no till within the next two years.
They use no single use plastic, no concrete and are off grid. They love woodchip!
They are certified organic with the Soil Association.
They sell all produce locally, within a 5 mile radius and all deliveries are by electric vehicle.
jo@treeoflifeveganics.org
@treeoflifeveganics

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time hopes to inspire and bring new ideas to foragers, growers and gardeners alike.

Now more than ever it is vital that we engage with how our food is grown.

Tune into our show and become part of the growing revolution which can not only transform your garden plot but also change the way the world grows its food.

A Vegan Organic Network production.

 

Foraging Wild Food-A Seasonal Guide 12th October

Join our seasoned foragers and nutritionists for your guide to sustainable foraging, find out what’s in season and how to eat it.

Thursday 12th October 7pm-7.45pm (UK)

Watch free on YouTube

Wild foraged plant food by definition is veganic (that is, it is free from animal fertilisers, such as fish, blood or bone meal which are used in most organic vegetable production).

If the land where it is growing is not polluted, foraged wild food is beyond organic – it’s veganic!

If you include veganic foods in your diet, whether you’ve grown it yourself or foraged it from the wild –  then you aren’t contributing to the destructive side effects of conventional agriculture.

Nature provides food for all the animals on the planet.

It should be a basic right to be able to eat plants free from toxins.

It is of the utmost importance that corporations, businesses and governments STOP destroying our ecosystems, STOP cutting down our forests, STOP polluting our rivers, oceans, soil and air and START to clean up the mess they have made.

Woods, hedgerows and sea shores are great places to find wild food and connect with the landscape.

Wild foods are by nature full of vitality and nutrition.

Join us on our mission to keep ourselves and our amazing planet healthy and happy!

Foraging Rules

  • Only eat what you are 100% sure of. Only eat what you know to be edible. If in doubt leave it out.
  • Take small quantities of the plant so its appearance and health are not affected.
  • Location. Be aware of sprays from insecticides, weed killers, dogs and picking near verges of heavily used roads. Avoid foraging in these places. Use common sense.
  • The Law. There are some legal constraints. Basically we should always get the landowners permission and not dig up the roots of plants in the wild. Many plants are legally protected so check to be sure, easy to do on the internet. . 
  • Share your knowledge.

Our panel:

Juliette Bryant is a leading figure in the field of health transformation. She has travelled the world seeking out and studying the most effective tools and plants for achieving good health and healing. Juliette is keen to get people to see what is the their local environment and how they can work with the gifts of mother nature. Juliette has three published books and written countless articles for magazines, newspapers and journals, all arising from her extensive research into healthy living, wellbeing and nutrition. 

She offers her professional services as a Nutritional Health Consultant to individuals and groups within both public and business sectors. Juliette also offers foraging courses as well as sacred sexuality courses. Her dynamic, intuitive and evidenced presentations are well received, enjoyable and noted for the simplicity and accessibility.Her website www.juliettebryant.com features a wealth of original, free content as well as details of her online courses, mentorship work and an extensive range of superfood blends, tonics and supplements – organically produced using plant-based ingredients and sought by customers the world over.

Jon Dale
Jon forages for edible wild foods in the natural habitat where he lives in Cornwall. He runs a veganic project ‘Willow Way’, near Newquay, a place of education, teaching self sufficiency and veganic principles. To help heal the earth and help people to reduce their footprint. Also to help people become engaged with where their food comes from and how it is grown and also to reverse illness through this lifestyle.
 

Jo Barker
Jo Barker is a Forest Gardener and Permaculturalist. She has been designing, making and eating edible gardens since the last century and is passionate about plants and people.

She founded Future Food Forests CIC in 2021 with a vision to make food forests more accessible and useable for more people. She believes that this connects us to a natural way humans have co-existed on Earth since we began. Foraging in Food Forests is a big part of this, and she believes everywhere is a Food Forest. She has the principle that everything is edible if you know how. Jo holds the unofficial record for ingredients in a UK salad at over 300!

Mark Griffin, Foraging walks: In these forage walks you consciously connect to nature, being all your senses, observing all that is, you participate, gathering safely knowing how to create from plants and trees, seeds, berries, roots and some fungi for food, tea, medicine, practical ways: In these foraging walks you consciously connect to nature, being all your senses, observing…

Website : http://www.naturesknowing.fun Telegram : @naturesknowing Email :naturesknowing@proton.me whats app ​: marknaturesknowing 

Lets clean up our planet and create a world of abundance for all!

Vegan Organic Network Production

Join or Donate to Support us on Our Mission

Veganic Gardeners Question Time

Ever wanted to know how to grow organically using only plant-based fertilisers? Our monthly show is here to help!

Giles Bryant will host an entertaining evening with some twenty-four carrot advice from Sparrow of Tolhurst Organic, Forest Gardener Jo Barker and Veg Grower Piers Warren.

Send your questions to: events@veganorganic.net

Wednesday 27th September 2023

7pm-7.45pm UK Time

Click here to watch free live on YouTube

The panel:

Giles Bryant – World Healing Project, Founder.

Giles has been a keen gardener for 30 years. He has planted community orchards, forest gardens and medicinal herb areas at a variety of projects. He runs the World Healing Project, promoting wellbeing for people and the planet, and has just released an 8-year project, One World, which features musicians and singers from around the world. http://www.gilesbryant.com

Sparrow Middleton: Tolhurst Organic head gardener works in the field of growing and land management aspects of the business. His role includes field preparation, machinery maintenance and planting/harvesting along with many other jobs around the farm.

Jo Barker: is a Forest Gardener and Permaculturalist. She has been designing, making and eating edible gardens since the last century and is passionate about plants and people. She founded Future Food Forests CIC in 2021 with a vision to make food forests more accessible and useable for more people. She believes that this connects us to a natural way humans have co-existed on Earth since we began. Foraging in Food Forests is a big part of this, and she believes everywhere is a Food Forest. She has the principle that everything is edible if you know how. Jo holds the unofficial record for ingredients in a UK salad at over 300!

Piers Warren: Conservationist, author and keen grower of organic fruit and vegetables. He is the founder of Wildeye – The International School of Wildlife Film-making. Writer of several books and co-author of The Vegan Cook and Gardener.
More about Piers https://wildeye.co.uk/piers-warren/The Vegan Cook & Gardener https://veganorganic.net/product/vegan-cook-and-gardener/

Veganic Gardeners’ Question Time hopes to inspire and bring new ideas to foragers, growers and gardeners alike.

Now more than ever it is vital that we engage with how our food is grown.

Tune into our show and become part of the growing revolution which can not only transform your garden plot but also change the way the world grows its food.

A Vegan Organic Network production.

Tour of Maypole Forest Garden

Tour of Maypole Forest Garden with Jonathan Barker

Wednesday 30th August 7-7.45pm (UK)

Watch free on YouTube

We have transformed an intensively managed 6 acre field into a sustainable and productive forest garden. 

We purchased the plot in August 2010 and have transformed an empty field into a Forest garden, planting over 4000 trees to help us, and the wider community to achieve a more sustainable lifestyle. We have planted a diverse range of fruit, nut and fuel trees, as well as willow and hazel trees for weaving and building materials. We are also growing perennial and annual vegetables using organic and permaculture principles. We have dug 4 ponds to improve water capture and improve the area as a wildlife friendly space. We have also reintroduced native wildflowers and put up nest boxes for Owls, Kestrels and other birds.

Jonathan Barker has been vegan for 22 years and has managed Maypole forest garden in Essex for 11 years. We have planted around 4500 trees on our 6 acre smallholding which is managed for nature as well as producing abundant yields of fruits, vegetable and nuts. As well as being a manager for Environmental charity the Wilderness Foundation, Jonathan encourages community engagement with sustainable food production and would like to see the forest garden model spread throughout the UK.

The Organic Growers Gathering 6-8th October 2023

Get tickets

The Organic Growers Gathering 2023 is organised by growers for growers. From small scale fruit, vegetable, herb and flower growers to land workers, crafters and purveyors of folk music.

Whether you’re a weathered master of the soil or a new entrant gaining experience seeding your ideas, there is something here for everyone. Expect lots of practical sessions and break out spaces. We gather to network, skill share, build community, discover, and learn.

Last year we hosted the event Hardwick Farm Hack 2022. The aim was to create an event where growers could share ideas, hacking organic growing solutions together in both weather and political extremes. The event sold out, and flourished into a great success…so we are back!

We are keen to grow alliances between farming networks and platform growers voices for a more resilient community farming future, as part of a ripening food and land justice movement.

It’s important to include young people in growing events, as they will be our future farmers. Sow seeds whilst they are young. Find the ‘Young Growers Plot’ where they will practical, fun and inspirational landy workshops. We encourage thinking about the next generation becoming knowledgable at land-based activities.

As members of the Hardwick Estate, where organic agriculture has been encouraged and nurtured, the farmers, businesses, projects and crafters here are keen to welcome you onto this land we share.

The gathering is hosted at Tolhurst Organic CIC, one of the longest-running organic farms in the UK renowned for pioneering, ethical stock-free organic standards. Set in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, by the River Thames.

OGG Official Partners:

? The Organic Growers Alliance

? Vegan Organic Network

Stay in touch

For any enquiries relating to membership (or changes of address if you’re a member) please contact the membership secretary at membership@veganorganic.net – see also our Join Us page for more info.

Otherwise please get in touch with the Vegan Organic Network for any queries you have about vegan organic growing, or for more info about how to get involved.